Stories of Impact from the Federal Grants Community: California’s Russian River Region

If you are a regular to Grants.gov, you are likely accustomed to seeing scores of new federal grant opportunities published every month. What happens after all of those grants are awarded and the funds are spent?

Federal agencies that oversee the spending of grants often share stories of impact on their websites and social media platforms. This week, we are highlighting a few of the most recent success stories. If you missed them, here are Monday’s post and Wednesday’s post.

Restoring Balance to California’s Russian River Region

Wine growers near California’s Russian River sometimes need to use river water to spray on their grapes and protect them from a coming frost. When this happens, endangered and threatened fish species, including coho salmon, Chinook, and steelhead, can at times be blocked from swimming upstream due to the resulting lower water level.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is currently testing new tower technologies developed alongside partners that can both aid farmers and protect the habitats of fish in the Russian River.

“Thirty-five-foot towers provide measurements of the height of the warm air during frost conditions, called inversion,” explains a blog post on NOAA.gov.

“The [sensors on the towers] help growers determine if an inversion is shallow. If so, growers can use fans to mix higher, warmer air with cold air near the surface—potentially eliminating the need for water altogether.”